Our sweet stout is made in collaboration with Connecticut's favorite chocolatier, Munson's Chocolate. Copious amounts of oat malt produce a silky, full bodied beer laced with hints of roast and chocolate derived from dark malts. Each sip ends with a mild chocolate bitterness from Munson's proprietary cocoa powder, added generously to the brew. To round out this beer, we add several pounds of cocoa nibs at the end of fermentation to provide a fresh chocolate aroma.

Reviews by greybeardloon:

S: Thick chocolate, but when I swirl and sniff too much, I get a really odd, plasticy smell the reminds me of horse manure (although it doesn't actually smell like manure--it's quite odd but unwelcome nonetheless).

T: Lots of chocolate that is neither very sweet nor bitter, then roasted malts with a touch of balancing bitterness (I'm not sure if it's char or hops). No manure on the taste. This is very chocolatey, and it's definately a dessert beer, but it's not cloying.

M: Pleasantly medium-full, suiting the chocolate well.

O: Not a style I ordinarily go in for, but this is an enjoyable beer. One does the trick though.

More User Reviews:

A: Pours an opaque jet black in color with some light hints of dark reddish brown when held up to the light. The beer has a quarter finger tall tan head that quickly reduces to a medium sized patch of extremely thin film and a thin ring at the edges of the glass. Moderate amounts of lacing are observed.

S: Moderate to strong aromas of dark chocolate with some lighter amounts of sweetness.

T: The flavors start out with some dark roasted, almost burnt malts that give a slightly bitter coffee taste. Next there is a pretty strong flavor of dark chocolate and cocoa nibs. There is also a light amount of milk chocolate sweetness in the finish.

O: Certainly the best offering I have had from this brewery and it is definitely enjoyable. I would get this beer again but it is more of a sipper than a session beer. Nice complexity of different chocolates in the taste and smell.

Nose brings nice chocolate, cocoa nibs, lots of very dark chocolate, mocha, and a bit of roast with hint of coffee. There is some dark caramel and a soft fluffy nougat like center with a hint of bready malts and creamy.

Taste starts creamy but follows with roast, a bitter slight acrid burnt coffee flavor with over roasted malt that was not expected. Then chocolate, some very bitter dark chocolate, light mocha and creamy milk chocolate but not as much as the nose. A light caramel and just a bit of earthy spicy hops. Finish is drier, slight acrid over roasted coffee, and light mocha, little caramel and burnt coffee lingering, with a touch of bitterness.

Mouth is med bodied, creamy and rich, decent carb.

Overall it would be really nice if not for the burnt acrid roasted flavor. Nice chocolate, creamy, drinkable, nice malts other than the acrid roast.

T: Nice, sweet and chocolatey up front with some initial malt bitterness derived from burnt, specialty black malts. A slow warming bitterness builds towards mid-palate, with another quick hint of dark cocoa nibs before spiking with a chocolate-covered orange rind bitterness. This fades to a bittersweet, malty and roasty finish.

M: Rich, smooth and full-bodied stout with a balanced, herbal bittersweetness to cut through the robust, chocolate and coffee notes of the malt.

O: Finally, a stout from Hooker, Munson's Chocolate Stout is a nice dessert beer option at a deceptive 5.9% ABV. Its a relief to see them take on a style they were albeit willing to conform to their standards. That is to say, the brewery is probably not going to be launching a "big beer" series anytime soon, so it's nice to see their offering for this uniquely Americanized style done well.

Very dark pour with a small head. No distinctive smell (but I had a cold and was stuffed).Mouthfeel was clean and not watery. Flavor from the first touch on the tongue. It was different than a "normal" stout. I didn't realize it when I ordered it but the style is a milk/sweet stout. Makes sense now. For that style it was a very good. I'll have to try it again now that I know what to expect.

Mouthfeel: sweet with a touch of bitterness, moderate carbonation, very rich yet still light bodied

Overall: Like opening a box of Valentine's Day chocolates. One of the better chocolate beers out there because the chocolate is so complex and rich. Yet the beer element here is also nice and complex. Due to its richness, I only want one or two per sitting, but would get this again. One of the better beers coming out of Connecticut.

Chocolate Truffle Stout opens to a sweet, chocolaty aroma, instantly reminiscent of milk chocolate bars, sugary hot chocolate, and cocoa-dusted truffles. There’s a strong heavy cream aroma that supplements the chocolate, adding layers of milky, fatty sweetness. All of this rests atop a stout bed of ash, coffee, and chocolate malt, as well as thick brown breads, rising whole wheat dough, floury baguette, and toast crust. The few fruit esters that make it though the chocolates and ashy breads are figgy in nature, with hints of date. As a whole, there are some nice aromas in here, and the initial chocolate-based aromas are very pleasant and reminiscent of fine desserts. However, the aromas as a whole are quite weak, and fade with relative quickness, leaving the beer with a distinct cola-like overtone.

On the tongue, the beer opens with the chocolate blasts noted above, with milk chocolate and cocoa-dusted truffles dominating, though here the chocolate takes on less of a sweet note, and more of a dark one, as of 70-80% dark chocolate bars. These notes mix with the ash and coffee, supplemented by thick brown breads, toast crust, and cereal grains. In subsequent sips a good bit of the initial nuance of the beer is lost, and the chocolate and bread notes mix with bits of toasted nut and heavy vanilla, as well as strange and faint threads of lemon-lime, to again leave the beer with a distinct cola-like overtone. The aftertaste does bring back a heavy ashy note, which mixes with the colas, as well as an onset of light grapefruit and pine from the hops, and lingers on the tongue for a good while. Mouthfeel is medium-light to medium, and carbonation is medium.

Overall, there are good notes in here, but they seem to clash with each other, as if too much is going on. The beer is also slightly watery in mouthfeel, and the flavors weaker than they could be (especially those of the underlying stout), both of which contribute to the cola-like overtone.

Bottled in Nov. 2012 and opened in Sept. 2013. Poured a dark brown, almost black with a very small brown head. The initial smell was nice, dark malt with a little bit of coffee, but as it warmed up I started to notice a little sourness. The sourness definitely came through in the taste also. I think I must have gotten a slightly infected bottle, unfortunately. It seems like it would have been a pretty nice stout otherwise. I didn't really notice any chocolate, but that could have been related to the infection. I look forward to re-reviewing this beer if I find a good bottle.

Another Stout to try! Yipee! And this one with the famed Munson chocolatesAs soon as I opened the cap, I could feel and smell Chocolate!. No question about chocolate here.This one poured a nice dark typical stout and had a semi-white creamy head.But it was the aroma that got to me first. One nose into the glass and I was Hooked!The initial taste was what I expected. Good full chocolate flavor and the nice burnt grassy feel of stouts. This beer tasted like many of the Russian Imperial Stouts I have tasted. Like this one, it had a good amount of carbonation, but not too much to distract the overall flavours.Once you tasted this and it was in your mouth, you didn't know if you should chew the chocolate or just slowly swallow it.Love the after taste. It was a chocolate lover's heaven. My only criticism, is that since I do a lot of cooking, I could not detect any truffle in this brew. Truffles have a distinct odor and taste, but I did not get any of that here

Very fresh bottle dated only days before tasting. (Late February). Poured into a shaped pint glass.

A: Dark dark brown with a dark tan head that hangs around. Nice sticky lace after a few sips.

S: As expected, wonderful aroma of chocolate and roasted, not burnt, malt. Well balanced, no artificial chocolate smell or anything oppressive.

T: Ahhh! The aroma didn't let me down! A very well constructed stout base with a pleasant hint of chocolate aftertaste. There is a great roasted character and noticeable presence of chocolate malt along with the actual chocolate.

M: Silky, well carbonated for the style, not too sticky or too thin either.

O: Overall a great stout... with chocolate. Hooker built a great flavored beer without skimping on the base style. Very drinkable. I was surprised how easy drinking it was. Now that I've tried it alone, I want to try it again pairing it with various foods. Well done!

This beer was a nice surprise. Typical stout appearance. Near black in color with a light tan head. The head was quite fizzy and dissapated rather quickly but never quite disapeared. It has a nice chocoatey smell. I am not familiar with the Munson's Chocolate that is used. I guess Munson's Chocolate is a big deal in CT. Taste is mostly chocolate with some roasted malt flavor with a bitter sweet finish. The best thing about this chocolate stout is that is not overly sweet or chocolatey. According to the bottle, this beer is 7.1% ABV. I did not notice any alcohol in the flavor and I am quite surprised the ABV is so high.